Be honest with yourself about what you really want....You'll be much happier in the long run...

Maybe my last few posts confused some people. I'm not saying don't get an ultra premium model, and I'm not saying "settle" for something lesser. I'm saying be reasonable about what your actually going to do with the car. If you want a $100,000 piece of garage jewelry that's only driven on and off the trailer or to shows then get whatever you want. If your not driving it, then it doesn't matter what equipment it has. If you only want a race car-it's only use is going to be at the Pure Stock Drags or similar events-then you can buy or build anything you want. For example-you could put a Mopar Performance Crate Hemi in a '71 Charger and run that because a Hemi was AVAILABLE that year. They don't require that cars be numbers-matching. That's how the current champ got his "L88" 'Vette in. It was a 390 hp car, and he rebuilt the engine to L88 specs. On the other hand you couldn't run a 454 in a '69 Chevelle or a 455 in a '69 GTO because those engines weren't optional in those cars. You could however run an L72 spec 427 in a '69 Chevelle because their were a few 427 cars built in the COPO program, and Don Yenko and Nickey Chevrolet built a few. You could run a Ram Air IV spec 400 in the GTO because the RAIV was an option. Under these circumstances the sky is the limit. But if your going to drive the car at all-I know no one is using these cars as daily transportation-but a lot of people like to take a 200 mile trip on a Sunday, or after drving an econobox or an old pickup to work all week-just want take the hot rod out and like the GTO song-"Turn it on, Wind it up, blow it out" up a country road. For those people-you need have some common sense. I've touched on it before it's worth re-visiting. If you live in Arizona or Florida or Las Vegas or anywhere that it gets 100 degrees in the summer-it might behoove you to get a car with working or at least repairable Air Conditioning. If you live in a big-city with a lot of stop-n-go traffic like San Francisco or Los Angeles-an automatic transmission might be a better choice than a 4-speed. If you live out in the country 30 or more miles from the nearest town-and do a lot of highway driving-a car with 3.23:1 gears is going to be a lot more pleasant to drive than one with 4.10:1s!!  And a base-model may make a nicer driver. For example a '69 GTO with properly tuned 350 hp 400, a TH400 and standard 3.36:1 gears or a 4-speed and 3.55:1s is going to be plenty fast. The engine will idle smoothly and it will literally spin the tires as long as you want to stay on the throttle. If you really, truly "need" something faster-then you "need" a top fuel dragster, a competent therapist, or a cage. Now a Ram Air IV model is going to be a handful. There's a reason they were only available with 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears. They have a rough idle,if you launch below 2,500-3,000 rpm itll bog; 3,000 or more and you'll fry the tires. ( Automatics had a special 2,800 rpm converter from the factory; you still have to be careful-"powerbrake" it too long and you'll fry the tires badly ). Your giving up quite a bit of low-end and mid-range torque for top-end rush. Yeah, it's faster in a drag race. Under any other conditions it's a pain in the ass. This is not an isolated example. Like I said in an earlier post-a Boss 302 is peaky-has very little torque below 3,000 rpm, and isn't any quicker than a 351W or 351C Mach 1. The 351W that's the standard engine in a 1969 Mach 1 is rated at 290 hp-the same as the Boss-yes I know the "Boss" was under-rated just like the 302 Chevy in the Z/28-but the 351W has 385 lbs of torque. It's a much better street engine, idles smoother, has gobs of torque, is perfect with an automatic and really sweet with a 4-speed. If your going to drive the car at all you'll be much happier with the 351 Mach 1. A lot of people don't realize that the Chrysler 426 Hemi was invented to do one thing-go 200 mph at Daytona. Nascar rules back then said if you wanted to race them, you had to sell a certain number to the public. Either in Nascar or NHRA Drag Racing-no one disputes the Hemi's "King Kong" status. But a 440 or even a 383 is a much better street engine. Read old road tests-often the 383 and 440 models are quicker in the 1/4 and have much better drivability. The huge Hemi ports and valves that helped attain that incredible speed at Daytona are actually a hindrance in a street car. Popular Hot Rodding tested a '69 Charger with a Hemi and a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears. They said it was like running with one flat tire. They couldn't break out of the 14s and went through the traps still in 2nd gear. They said the car needed a 4-speed and some 4.30:1 gears to really run to it's potential, or at least a higher-stall converter and some 4.10:1s. Meanwhile-the 440 GTX they tested was raved about as was the 383 Super Bee. They said both were better street machines than the Hemi Charger, and were quicker even though they too had 3.23:1 and 3.54:1 gears. Ditto for the Boss 429. It was invented strictly as a Hemi Fighter for Nascar. In street trim,with muffled exhausts-they don't run as fast a the 428 wedge. They don't run as fast as a 390!!  Be brutally honest with yourself about what you really want, especially since your spending major bucks. Mastermind